A little bit of background on Mei Pi-Lao:
Born in the old lands a few years before the Swarming began, Mei's father was a Kamist who believed in Jena as the supreme Kami rather than Ma-Duk. He never discouraged her questions, saying that true faith is a circle and that one who wanders will inevitably return to the beginning. The radical ideas that grew in her mind about the Kami and Karavan caused friction between her and the family of Kian Shi, her friend and eventually husband-to-be. They would never be married, however, for Mei met her death at the claws of a kitin scout during the journey to the new lands.